This application relates to hand tools and, in particular, to locking drive tools and devices for releasably locking associated tools. The application relates in particular to improved extension members for socket wrenches and the like, which include a locking mechanism to prevent unwanted separation of a socket or the like from the extension member.
Socket wrenches, which may be of the ratcheting or non-ratcheting type, typically include a handle and a head provided with a drive square onto which various sockets may releasably be mounted. In order to be able to use such a wrench to apply torque to fasteners in remote, relatively inaccessible locations, it is known to provide extensions which have a square drive portion at one end and a square socket portion at the other end adapted to fit onto the square drive of the wrench. Retention of a socket on an extension is important because, in use, the socket may be at a distance from the wrench handle and in a relatively inaccessible location, where retrieval could be difficult if the socket becomes disengaged. Accordingly, various arrangements have heretofore been provided for locking a socket in place on an extension. Such prior locking arrangements have had various disadvantages. Some have required that a release mechanism be manually actuated in order to mount a socket on the extension as well as to remove it, some are relatively complex, requiring a relatively large number of parts, some are relatively expensive to manufacture, such as by requiring the drilling of diagonal holes, and virtually all require the conversion of one type of motion to another in transmitting motion from a release actuator to a locking member.